Obama signs gun-control measures

GUN CONTROL

Updated 10:45 pm, Wednesday, January 16, 2013

President Obama hugs Julia Stokes, one of several children who wrote him requesting he take action on guns and who joined him as he outlined his proposals at an event in Washington.

President Obama hugs Julia Stokes, one of several children who wrote him requesting he take action on guns and who joined him as he outlined his proposals at an event in Washington.

Photo: Olivier Douliery, McClatchy-Tribune News Service

Image 2 of 3

President Barack Obama, accompanied by Vice President Joe Biden, pauses as he talked about proposals to reduce gun violence, Wednesday, Jan. 16, 2013, in the South Court Auditorium at the White House in Washington. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster) less

President Barack Obama, accompanied by Vice President Joe Biden, pauses as he talked about proposals to reduce gun violence, Wednesday, Jan. 16, 2013, in the South Court Auditorium at the White House in ... more

Photo: Carolyn Kaster, Associated Press

Image 3 of 3

Joel Smith stands on the corner of the county courthouse in Victoria, Texas protesting President Obama and his efforts at gun control, Wednesday, January 16, 2013. Smith who says he doesn't even own a gun, cried out to passing motorist that Obama should be impeached for his actions. (AP Photo/Victoria Advocate, Frank Tilley) less

Joel Smith stands on the corner of the county courthouse in Victoria, Texas protesting President Obama and his efforts at gun control, Wednesday, January 16, 2013. Smith who says he doesn't even own a gun, ... more

Photo: Frank Tilley, Associated Press

Obama signs gun-control measures

1 / 3

Back to Gallery

Washington --

With children at his side, President Obama on Wednesday invoked the nation's "responsibility to care for them and shield them from harm" as he outlined an ambitious set of proposals to rein in guns and gun violence.

"This is our first task as a society, keeping our children safe, this is how we will be judged," Obama said as four children who had written letters about gun violence sat nearby on a White House stage. "Their voices should compel us to change." Obama spoke 33 days after the mass shooting that took the lives of 20 children and six adults at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn.

Signing the executive orders may have been the easy part. The president and Democrats on Capitol Hill favoring gun control face a much harder road in winning congressional approval for the other elements of Obama's plan. They include:

-- Expanding gun-purchaser background checks to include virtually all private transactions, many of which take place at gun shows. There would be some exceptions, including gifts between family members. Under current law, only purchases from federally licensed firearms dealers - estimated at 60 percent of total sales - require a background check.

-- A new assault-weapons ban to replace the one championed in 1994 by Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., which expired in 2004. The ban would apply to unspecified military-style semiautomatic rifles such as the AR-15, used in Newtown. Obama's proposal also would bar ammunition magazines holding more than 10 rounds, which was part of the original assault weapons ban.

The president "was exactly right when he said 'weapons designed for the theater of war have no place' in our society," said Feinstein, who will reintroduce the assault weapons ban in the Senate Jan. 24. "I couldn't agree more. These weapons have one purpose: to kill the most people in the shortest amount of time possible."

The White House gun-control rollout was barely over before the NRA and congressional Republicans from pro-gun states began weighing in.

"We look forward to working with Congress on a bipartisan basis to find real solutions to protecting America's most valuable asset - our children," the NRA said in a statement. "Attacking firearms and ignoring children is not a solution to the crisis we face as a nation. Only honest, law-abiding gun owners will be affected and our children will remain vulnerable to the inevitability of more tragedy."

Among the executive orders Obama signed Wednesday was one that would permit hiring 1,000 counselors and school resource officers. These officers are on-duty police who provide security and also act as teachers and advisers to students, faculty and parent groups.

23,000 armed guards

There already are 10,000 school resource officers on the job and a total of 23,000 armed guards in schools - about 28 percent of the total number of schools.

A separate order seeks to lower legal privacy barriers so that states will submit more mental health records to the FBI's National Instant Criminal Background Check System. A Government Accountability Office report last year said 12 states accounted for the lion's share of mental health records submitted to background check system between 2004 and 2011, while 17 states had submitted fewer than 10 records.

Among the states submitting the most records were California, New York, Texas and Connecticut.

Latest from the SFGATE homepage:

Click below for the top news from around the Bay Area and beyond. Sign up for our newsletters to be the first to learn about breaking news and more. Go to 'Sign In' and 'Manage Profile' at the top of the page.